Light Up The Darkness
by Akuma Shoujo23
Summary: Hotaru Yoshino; Possessor of an IQ of 192 and an unclouded psycho-pass, a jewel in Sybil's eyes. Becoming an inspector at the MWPSB at fifteen was no sweat. But is that what he really wants? Who is he really? And why is Shogo Makishima so interested in him? Pairings: KogaNe.
1. Chapter 1

_Crap, I'm late!_ He thought as he ran as fast as he could. The streets weren't all that crowded and he had to apologize to only a couple of people for running into them, there was a light drizzle in the air but he chose to ignore it. This was just perfect, his first day on the job and he was already late, well at least it couldn't get any worse. He regretted thinking that, because at that very moment, the light drizzle turned into a heavy shower, and in under ten seconds he was soaked to the bone.

_I am so gonna get a cold after this._

Ten more minutes of hard running and he finally skidded to a halt in front of his destination, the MWPSB building.

Hotaru Yoshino let out a tired smile as he ran in.

* * *

Inspector Ginoza tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently, the new inspector was supposed to come in ten minutes ago, he picked up the files that were neatly arranged on his desk, they were the details about him, _Although they aren't very detailed..._he thought sullenly, all the papers contained were his name, his hue and his test rankings, not even a picture was included.

"Hey, hey, hey doesn't this seem like a big prank to you?" Kagari whined as he swirled around in his chair, his hands held a small game console. "How mean! Getting our hopes up like that!"

"Kagari, shut up." Yayoi said after throwing him a glance. He turned around to retort but she just silenced him by motioning to Ginoza, who was by now ready to tear the files apart.

"Well, if it is a prank, we can always file a complaint." Kougami said lighting up another cigarette.

"Well, I'm sure he's just being held up by the bad weather." Akane added trying to put the mood back in place. "See, look outside."

"Inspector Tsunemori, I don't think bad weather will hinder you, like it did a hundred years ago-"

"Calm down, everybody." Masaoka said putting down the block of wood he was carving, "Little missy could be right you know."

Everybody looked at him and then went back to their own work except for Ginoza.

"Fine," He gave in, "But only ten minutes, if he doesn't come then I'm-"

Ginoza was interrupted again, this time by the door suddenly sliding open.

"S-so-sorry I'm la-late!" A drenched and disheveled boy came in panting heavily as though he had just run a marathon.

Everybody stared at the intruder, what on earth did he mean by late?

"Hey kiddo, are you sure you're at the right place?" Masaoka asked kindly, he was probably a lost student, schools often brought classes here for educational tours.

"Wh-what no, I'm sure that th-this is the right pl-place." The boy seemed to have regained his breath a little, "Hotaru Yoshino, I'm a new inspector he-" he erupted into a fit of coughing.

"Hey! You okay?!" Akane asked in alarm as she rushed towards him, "Why don't you have a seat?"

She then guided him towards one and the boy took it gratefully.

After he seemed to have recovered, he began to talk again.

"Sorry about that, I missed the bus here so I had to run all the way." He grinned sheepishly as he accepted a towel from Yayoi's hand.

"You cannot possibly be Hotaru Yoshino right?" Ginoza asked in disbelief.

"Eh?" Hotaru looked perplexed, "What do you mean? That's exactly who I am."

"The new inspector?"

"That's what they told me, did I...do something wrong...?"

Everyone in the room now looked at him curiously, this kid was the new inspector, this kid was the one who got an A* ranking from Sybil to work for the MWPSB? It was quite unbelievable.

"Oy, kid," Kagari began, he set his game console down, "How old are you?"

"Fifteen..." Came a nervous reply, Hotaru was now convinced that he had done something horribly, horribly wrong, "I-I did something wrong didn't I? I'm sorry!"

The boy began apologizing profusely.

Ginoza looked at Kougami, helplessly, the latter just mouthed "It's your mess, clean it up."

In the end Masaoka decided to take things into his own hands, "Hey, hey, kid, relax, you didn't do anything wrong, everyone was just a little surprised at how young you were."

"Surprised doesn't even begin to cover it," Gino mumbled, "I thought they'd stopped sending us children after Inspector Tsunemori,we aren't a babysitting service."

"Hey, I heard that!" Akane said, it really ticked her off whenever people treated her like a child.

"Nobuchika..." Masaoka began exasperatedly and was relieved by the ringing of the intercom.

"Attention please, there has been an a rise in area stress in xx place, all inspectors and accompanying enforcers please solve this issue." A robotic voice rang through the building.

"That's us." Gino said rising.

"Perfect..." Kagari grumbled.

* * *

His head was aching when the van finally stopped in front of a large building, which looked like it had been abandoned for some years. Hotaru lightly stepped out of the van and onto the pavement, the building had definitely been abandoned for many years, the paint was faded, the blinds in the windows were torn and several cracks ran up the walls.

_Looks sorta like it's haunted_. He thought. Whilst in the van he had read the briefing they had received, basically two men, who were living here, had been detected by a psycho pass scanner and had taken a teenage girl in the area, hostage.

"I assume, everyone has read the briefing?" Ginoza asked as he put the dominator in the holster at the back of his pants. "We'll split into two groups for this." He looked around meeting everyone's eyes and began to speak again, "Kougami and Masaoka will accompany Inspector Tsunemori and search the right of the building. Since Inspector Yoshino is new I will accompany him along with Kunidzuka and search the left. Clear?"

Everybody except Kagari mumbled or said a yes.

"Hey! What about me?" He whined.

"You were injured in the last mission so shut up and stay here as support."

"Meanie..."

Ginoza sighed, although he didn't show it, he deeply cared about the welfare of his co-workers, but half the time they made it very difficult for him. Kagari acted like a child sometimes and now he had to look after an actual child as well, what was the chief thinking?

"Okay, let's move out!"

* * *

_Left of the building, Ginoza's group._

The group moved slowly through the dark and musty corridors, it was silent except for the sound of water droplets falling and Gino's voice softly giving instructions to the younger inspector on how to handle the Dominator properly.

"And finally, remember if you don't want to use Lethal eliminator, just use the paralyzer mode, okay."

Hotaru nodded, "Thanks uh…um…" He struggled trying to find a nametag on the older man's jacket.

Ginoza watched amusedly for a couple of seconds before he decided to put the kid out of his misery, "Ginoza Nobuchika."

Hotaru looked up from his nametag hunting, "Oh then, thanks Ginoza-sempai." He said with a grin.

_Sempai, huh? I haven't been called that since high school… _Gino thought with a small smile as they continued walking down the corridor, the kid wasn't half bad but he was still determined to give the chief a piece of his mind, what was she thinking? Sending someone as young as he was to a place that was practically a battlefield? Sure he was a genius, but he was still only_ fifteen_. Fifteen was way too young for a job like this. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of wracking coughs coming from Hotaru.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Gino and Yayoi started running towards him but halted when he put out a hand to wave them away.

"Y-yeah, I'm good. Just fine." Hotaru replied a couple of minutes later. He leaned weakly against the wall, "So uh…shall we continue?"

The two in front of him didn't seem convinced. Ginoza crossed his arms and stared at him. Yayoi walked up to him and placed her hand on his forehead, "You have a temperature." She commented as she drew her hand away.

Ginoza jerked his head up at the female enforcer's words, "You're unwell?" He inquired.

"I'm fine! Really!" The boy insisted, "Let's move on!

"If you say so." Yayoi said before turning back to continue walking.

"Ginoza-Sempai?"

"After this mission, you're paying a visit to the medic centre."

* * *

_Right side of the building, Akane's group._

"Kougami-san...should we really have split up with Masaoka-san? He's all alone now, what if he get's hurt?" Akane' voiced out in a worried tone to the male enforcer who was ahead of her.

"Heh, that old man can handle himself no problem." Kougami said without turning around.

Akane's lips curled into a pout, she expected the man to show more concern.

"Kougami-san, wouldn't it be better if we went back for him?"

"Trust me Inspector he'll be perfectly fine." He said with a chuckle, he was amused by the fact that Akane was so worried about a man, who had worked as a detective before Kougami was even born. "Watch your step, there's a lot of rubble around, it looks like part of the ceiling here fell."

"Okay, you be careful too, Kougami-san." She was still worried about the oldest enforcer but decided to drop the issue for now to focus on making her way over the rubble carefully, she was almost there when her foot got caught in a small dent in the floor and she felt herself falling and Kougami was right in front.

"Kougami-san! Watch out!" she cried, but it was sadly too late, she landed right on top of him when he turned around to try and steady her. Landing on Kougami-san, Akane decided , was like landing on a pile of bricks, only then she noticed that their lips were touching. She turned several shades of red before she stood up as fast as possible. Her hand covered her mouth and her face was flushed.

"Ouch," Kougami winced as he pulled himself to a sitting position, Akane stiffened as he turned towards her, "Are you hurt anywhere?" and then he noticed the way her hand covered her mouth and how red her face was. Realization dawned on him.

"Was that your first kiss?"

* * *

**Yaay first chapter done!**

**I hope you guys like Hotaru, don't worry he's not gonna be like this for the rest of the chapters, there'll be much more to reveal about him...*evil laugh***

**I just love KogaNe ain't they a perfect couple!**

**Please review if you like!**

**Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Ginoza's group._

"Clear." Yayoi said after a quick scan of the room, "It seems the kidnappers only left a short while ago, so they can't have gone far, I'll try to track them." She took her dominator out of her holster and left with a light jog, leaving Ginoza and Hotaru behind.

"Could they be trying to escape?" Ginoza asked narrowing his eyes

"That could be true or," Hotaru began, his eyes swept across the room swiftly, "They could be hiding close by to ambush us, this could be a trap."

"Impossible." Ginoza brushed it off as soon as it was stated, there was no way two almost unarmed men would try to ambush them, hostage or no hostage, "We have Dominators, knowing that, they wouldn't go for a surprise hit." he finished with an air of having said the last word.

"They could knock them out of our hands if they got us by surprise." Hotaru pressed on, "look, doesn't it seem fishy? The kidnappers left only minutes before, but we didn't see them at all on our way to this room, they could be hiding around here."

"That won't happen." Ginoza replied shortly, "There's nothing more to see here, let's leave."

"Meanie..." Hotaru grumbled.

"Inspector Yoshino, did you say anything?"

"Ah...uh..yes-I mean no! Nothing at all!" He lied and followed the older man out, something glinted in a corner and his eyes widened as he saw it was the nozzle of a gun pointing at Ginoza."Ginoza-sempai! Watch out!" He pushed the older man down just as the gun fired. He felt his side explode with pain and realized that the bullet had hit him instead.

* * *

_Akane's group_

"Was that your first kiss?" Kougami asked with an amused expression as he eyed the furiously blushing Akane in front of him, he recalled the way she tripped over and smiled, it seemed so unlike her and yet it weirdly went with her image.

"K-Kougami-san, I'm so sorry!" She blurted out while hiding her face with her hands, "I'm so ashamed of myself! Not only did I trip over but I also took something very precious away from you!" She collapsed to her knees.

He chuckled watching her little performance, it definitely was her first kiss for her to to act like this. They were so soft, her lips, that is. For some reason he felt like teasing her.

"You kissed me, was it your first time?"

Akane's shoulders stiffened up at his question, "Tha-that about that...is um..." She mumbled not looking at him.

"You haven't answered my question, Inspector." He said feigning seriousness, but his sides shook with silent laughter. "Also I expect you to make it up to me."

"...yes... It was..." She wrung her hands, "I will make up to you I promise...is there anything in particular that you want?"

"Well..." He was having so much fun with this, his eyes glinted as an idea popped into his head, "Since you kissed me, let me reciprocate after this case."

His demand hit her like a rock, he was just joking right? She slowly looked up to meet his eyes to see if he was actually serious and spotted the man holding his sides to try to keep quiet, all this time...all this time he had just been teasing her? "Kougami-san! You were teasing me weren't you? How mean!" She pouted.

_Looks like I'm caught red handed. _Now that he had been found out he could no longer control himself, he burst out laughing.

"I'm s-sorry I couldn't help it." He said gasping for air in between laughs.

"Kougami-san! That was so mean!" She turned her face away from him.

"Sorry Akane," He apologized, "I can call you that, right?"

Akane was taken aback by him calling her by her first name, "Y-yeah of course,"

"I thought so, since we kissed and all."

"K-Kougami-san!"

* * *

"Yoshino!" He yelled, scrambling to his feet to get to Hotaru. He knelt beside the boy.

"G-Ginoza-sempai..." He said weakly, clutching his side, thick red blood was rapidly oozing through his fingers, "Th-they're...getting...away...g-get them..."

"Don't be stupid, I can't leave you like this!"

"Ginoza-sempai...I'll be...fine...go..."  
Gino hesitantly rose up and then mumbled an "I'll be back soon." and chased after the the

two men.

He caught up with the two men fairly easily.

"Stop right there" He said coldly and pointed the dominator in their direction, "Or I'll shoot."

"Yeah right,!" The taller man sneered, "Ya think we'll comply to Sybil's dogs?"

The shorter of the two however remained quiet.

_He's the more dangerous of the two,_ Gino thought as he scrutinized them, _this could be bad. Better act fast._

He quickly pointed the dominator at the shorter one,

Crime coefficient is over 320, apprehension mode is Lethal eliminator, please aim carefully and eliminate the target.

Just as his finger touched the trigger the man pulled his partner in front of him. It hit him square in the chest and a second later all that was left of the man was a large pool of blood.

"Shit!" Gino cursed he didn't think that would happen. The remaining one however had no plans of running away, before Gino could react he was in front of him and kicked the Dominator out of his hands. They grappled for a few moments and soon enough he caught ahold of the Dominator again.

"This time, there's no one to shield you." He fired. "Enforcement complete."

A call from Yayoi came and he answered it, "Yes?"

"I found the hostage, I took her to Kagari."

"Good, I dealt with the kidnappers, call the others back, Yoshino and I will join you."

He rushed back to where he had left Hotaru, guilt stabbed at his chest, the boy had saved his life but he still left him alone. He'd better be okay.

* * *

Hotaru felt his consciousness slipping, his fever had spiked and it wasn't helping any in his current condition. He heard the sound of running footsteps.

_I wonder if it's Ginoza-sempai _He thought before he blacked out.

* * *

Yay! second chapter!

Please review if you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Aaaaaaand chapter three!**

* * *

_He's waking up_. Ginoza thought as he waited in the small hospital room seated on a metal chair. The person in question was a teenage boy with a mess of dark brown hair and pale skin, who occupied the bed.

"Where am I...?" He asked groggily as he slowly turned his head, taking in his surroundings. All he saw was white, pure white. "Am I in heaven?" He mumbled and noticed the other man in the room, "Ah, Ginoza-sempai, you're in heaven too?"

Gino tried not to laugh at the boy's blissful but slightly confused expression.

"Yoshino, this is the hospital room in the medic center, It's not heaven, the both of us are very much alive." He said smiling slightly as he got up to help the boy into a sitting position.

"Aaaaah...thought so...what happened...?"

Gino froze for a second at his question and then took a heavy breath. Suddenly the guilt he felt hit him like a boulder on his chest. He should've taken what the younger inspector had to say into consideration, if he had, the kid wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed with a bullet wound in his side. He was fifteen, only fifteen.

"Er...Sempai?"

He snapped back into reality and briskly answered the boy.

"You got shot in the last mission."_ And almost bled to death because of it._ He added silently. _God, I'm such a jerk, the kid nearly killed himself to save me and I talk briskly. Perfect Nobuchika, just perfect_.

"Oh yeah...I remember...hehe good sort of first day day on the job huh?" Hotaru chuckled lightly but winced at the pain it caused his side.

Ginoza was, to say in the least, shocked. He thought Hotaru would just quit after this but instead he was laughing it off. He shook his head.

"How do you feel?" He asked in a, what he hoped was, kinder tone.

"Er...sick, I guess? My side only hurts when I move." Hotaru answered honestly. _Man. Sempai sure is acting weird._ Suddenly his eyes lit up, "Did a drone carry me to the ambulance?" He asked, almost leaping out of the bed in excitement. Sadly, the sudden movement didn't do him any favours.

"Ow...ow...ow!"

"Yoshino! Be more careful!" Gino quickly got out of his chair and gently pushed the boy back to his pillows. "Geez, you're wounded, remember?"

Silence fell between the two. Ginoza shifted uncomfortably in his chair, he was unable to look Hotaru in the eye. He knew all too well why.

"Yoshino...There's something I've been meaning to say..." He began, he took in a deep breath and faced the boy. "Thank you."

"Huh? Er...You're welcome." Although I don't know why...Was the confused reply.

"You saved my life on the last mission, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough."

Hotaru blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It's nothing..." He looked down and began fiddling with his hands, when something on his left wrist caught his eye, he took in a sharp breath and brought up his hand to his face for closer inspection.

"I should make it up to you anyhow," Gino turned to look at the boy only to see him fixated on his hand, beads of sweat forming and running down his face, "Yoshino, is there something wrong?

"Sempai...is this thing..." The boy began weakly and pointed to his wrist, "What I think it is?"

The older inspector was puzzled, there was an IV canular hooked to his wrist, surely he knew that, right? "It's an IV line." He answered cautiously.

"An IV?"

"Yes."

"In me?"

"Yes...?"

"With a needle?"

"Uh...yes?"

Hotaru's eyes widened with fear, his face grew paler than usual as his body began to tremble. "Get it out," He said, his voice barely audible, "please...get it out..."

"I'm not sure I get what you're saying, Yoshino."

"Get it out, Sempai...please...just...get it out..." The boy pleaded sounding helpless.

"Are you sure you're not feeling unwell...?"  
"Get. It. OUT!" Hotaru yelled and proceeded to violently shake his left hand, "Get it out! I hate needles! I hate them! Get it out!"

"Yoshino calm down!" Gino jumped out of his chair the second time that visit to push the younger boy down, "Everything's going to be okay." He said soothingly, "Just calm down."

"Everything's gonna be okay? Don't kid me! I hate them, get it out!"

Shion barged into the room after watching the commotion on her monitors.

"What's going on?" She asked breathlessly.

* * *

A man and a woman sat together at a table in a local restaurant, the woman nervously played around with her handbag and the man, seemingly nonchalant, took a puff from his cigarette. Basically the mood between them was awkward.

"K-Kougami-san..." Akane began, her cheeks slightly pink, "D-do you want to order anything...?"

Kougami's head jerked up, "Just a coffee is fine."_ Awkward doesn't even begin to cover this..._He thought, _she's cute when she's nervous...wait! What did I just think?_

He took a deep breath, _chill Shinya, just chill out..._

"Two coffees please." She said to the drone that was undertaking orders.

Silence fell between the two once again.

"Hey...about what I said that day," He began hesitantly, "I didn't really mean that, you know..." He cleared his thought, "You know, about that."

Akane's pink cheeks turned a furious red, "Y-yeah...um...so...sorry for...k-kissing you!"

She closed her eyes and blurted out an apology.

He looked a bit taken back for a moment and then grinned, something fun just popped into his head,

"It's okay, I liked it." He said, a small smile playing on his lips, _Wait for it..._

"K-Kougami-san!" Her reaction was priceless like he anticipated. "There you go, teasing me again!"

"I'm not teasing."

"Yes, you are!"

Their argument was interrupted by the drone bringing them their coffee.

Kougami took his with a mumbled "Thanks" and set down in front of him.

"Hey, Akane," He began.

"Y-Yes?" She still wasn't used to him calling her by her given name.

"When's your next day off?"

"Huh?"

"Well?"

She checked her terminal for her schedule, "Um...next Sunday, nine days from now,"

"I'm off on that day too."

"Oh, I see."

Except for the sound of coffee being sipped there was no sound from them.

Kougami put his cup down after having drained it.

"Wanna go on a date on that day?" He asked bluntly,

Akane's eyes widened and she quickly put her cup down.

"Um...uh...What?"

The man scratched the back of his head, "It's my way of saying sorry for teasing you that day." He looked into her eyes waiting for an answer.

With a blush, she mumbled an answer.

"Okay."

* * *

"So you're afraid of needles?" Gino cautiously asked Hotaru, the latter was rubbing his wrist where the IV line had previously been, it's place was now taken by a clean white bandage.

"It's a phobia." He replied sullenly.

"Sorry, Hotaru-chan, if I had known, I would have used some other method," Shion said with an apologetic smile.

"It's fine, Karanomori-san, it wasn't your fault."

"Are you sure? I'll be leaving then, I've got a bit of evidence to scan." She turned to leave but then stopped abruptly, "I almost forgot, about an hour before you woke up a girl called Shiho, asked a drone to deliver this to you," As if on cue a small delivery drone, came in with a not-so-small box and handed it to Hotaru.

"She threatened to 'kill' the drone to death if this wasn't delivered to you." Forcing back her laughter, Shion left the room.

"Shiho-chan...you should really stop using that phrase..." Hotaru mumbled as he opened the box, inside was a boxed lunch (that was enough for THREE people) and an audio file.

He picked up the file to play it on his terminal, but then he realized that it had been removed, _Probably for surgery...wait...surgery equals needles...no! No! Not going there!_ He thought and shook his head to get rid of any...unappealing thoughts.

"They removed your terminal for surgery-"

"I knew it! Uh please go on."

"You can use mine if you want to." Gino offered.

"Great! Thanks Sempai!" Hotaru gladly took up the older man's offer and played the file.

_"Hotaru-kyun! I heard you got injured on your first day! Does it hurt a lot?! I came up to the MWPSB to see you and that stupid little drone wouldn't let me! No matter what I did the stupid thing just kept saying no! *sob* I just want to see you! Is it so wrong to want that?! *sob* Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Hotaruuuu-kyuuuun! *sniffle* sorry about my outburst...So if you got this file, I'm assuming you got the lunch I made as well, right? I made it slightly larger because you have to get lots and lots of energy to get better fast!...and because you're too skinny and its no fun to hug you! But don't worry, I still love hugging you! Love and kisses and more love and kisses. - Shiho._

The moment he played it, he regretted doing so in a place where other people could hear him, namely, Ginoza, who was trying his best to keep a poker face.

"I am not skinny!"

That did it, for the first time in a long time Gino burst out laughing.

* * *

**Haha! I bet nobody expected Hotaru to have trypanophobia (needle-phobia)! I wanted to put the reason why but I was too lazy, I'll put it in another chapter.**

***Spoiler***

**Did anyone else totally predict that Masaoka would die? I predicted it right from ep13 when we found out that he was Gino's dad! Gino was so cute when he was crying! I felt so bad for him! **

**Please review! and you're also free to give any ideas for the Kogane love, coz this is my first time actually writing romance...**

**See ya**


	4. Chapter 4

_It feels so good to stretch my legs again.._.Hotaru thought as he lazily walked down the hallway to Unit 2's office room. It had been three days since he had been shot in the side, two of which he spent in a hospital room. Hospitals, he had decided ever since he had been old enough to realize things, were not very nice places. At least according to him._ All they do is poke you with needles and suck blood out of you with MORE needles, and I DON'T LIKE needles.._.Okay, the mere thought of needles sent his heart rate way high, he decided to stop thinking.

The door soundlessly slid open before him and he hesitantly walked in, hesitantly because the first time he had walked in (more like ran in) everybody had been very...surprised as to how old he was, and after their round of questioning had ended, there had been a sudden case and BLAM! He had promptly gone and got himself shot. Such an awesome first day on the job_...Okay...deep breath...!_

"G-Good Morning!" He said hastily with a nervous bow, there were only two other people in the room, Kougami and Kagari. The former reading through some files whilst smoking a cigarette and the latter playing a video game.

"Morning."

"Mornin'!"

"Um...if I may ask, where is everyone else?" Hotaru asked as he slid himself into a seat behind the desk that had been prepared for him.

"Field work." Kougami answered with a puff from his cigarette. "They went out a few minutes before your shift started."

"Oh, I see, is there any work to do?" He asked hopefully.

"Nope."

Hotaru spotted the files in the older man's hands. "But you're working!" he said accusingly and pointed to the files.

"Oh, you mean these?" The enforcer laughed, "They're from a case a long time ago."

"Okay..."

Seeing as how the boy still did not look satisfied with his answer, Kougami got up and ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about it."

"Hey, stop treating me like a kid!"

* * *

Shogo Makishima sat on the purple velveted sofa in his hotel room. Choe Gu Seng stood smiling behind him. It seemed as though they were enjoying a video on the large flat-screen TV the hotel had provided.

"Pause." Makishima commanded the moment a young boy with messy brown locks and amber eyes came into vision. "Hm, his face is pale, paler than usual. Play."

The video played on, showing the events of Unit 2's last mission.

"He's quite heroic isn't he?" Choe chuckled as he watched Hotaru push Gino down to safety, effectively taking a bullet to his side for his efforts.

"It would seem so."

The rest of the clip was watched in silence.

"So, Makishima, what now?"

"I have to prevent Sybil's fangs from poisoning him." The white haired man said with a smile, a psychotic one, "But first I have to test him. Call Senguji."

* * *

_Sunday_

"Kougami-san! Where are we going?" Akane shouted, her voice barely audible over the roar of the wind. Currently she was at the back of a speeding bike, her arms clamped tightly around the man driving.

"It's a surprise!" Kougami yelled back and grinned, he had never thought he'd be taking a girl to his "secret spot", much less his boss. The scenery was an unchanging picture of blue skies and green hills, but to him the unchanging beauty was a paradise. A softer smile replaced his grin and he began steering his bike with one hand putting his other over the smaller ones that clung to his torso. Akane blushed when his hand came over hers but didn't say anything.

"Hang on tight, I'm gonna speed up a bit!"

"What? Aren't we going fast enough already?" The petite brunette protested, her arms tightening their hold around him, "Geez, are you_ trying_ to get us killed?"

"Hey, have a little faith in me, won't you?" He gave her hands a gentle squeeze and then took his own off to speed up.

Almost half an hour later Kougami stopped his bike a little away from a grove of trees.

"You know, you can open your eyes and stop praying now." He commented to the brown haired girl behind him. The girl in question hesitantly opened one eye and then the other to look around in wonder.

"We're...still alive?" she said in amazement.

"Like I said earlier, have a little faith in me. I have_ great_ driving skills."

"Pssh, the only reason we're alive is because I was praying for our safety all this time." Akane retorted and lightly punched the man on his arm. "Where are we by the way?"

"Oh...somewhere..." Kougami replied vaguely.

"Eeeeeeeh?!"

"Kidding, just follow me." He grinned and took her by the hand.

Akane sighed and let herself be dragged away by the man.

_After all, he has enough strength for the two of us._ She childishly reasoned.

They reached a clearing and he stopped.

"We're here, surprise." He let go of her hand.

The girl gasped as she took in her surroundings.

"Wow..." She intoned as she looked around her enchanted. "This place is.._.beautiful_."

The clearing they had reached was abundant with soft green grass and a small lake that shone turquoise centered it. A fresh breeze blew through the air and Akane giggled as her clothes and hair danced to it's tune.

"Kougami-san..." She said amidst innocent laughter, "What is this place?"

"A hideout, or that's what we used to call it when I was a kid." He replied sighing contentedly before falling backwards onto the soft grass.

"We?"

"My mom and I." He closed his eyes and a mischievous grin played on his lips, without warning he suddenly pulled the girl down next to him.

"Ah!" She let out a short scream as she was pulled downwards and landed with a soft thud next to Kougami, the latter feigning innocence.

"Kougami-san..."

"What? What did I do?"

Akane shook her head in resignment, one day, she would have her revenge...one day...not today...definitely one day...

The gentle midmorning sunlight of the spring day made her eyes droop. Instinctively she curled up next to Kougami and dozed off.

"Shinya-kun..." She softly mumbled in her sleep.

Kougami smiled as he saw her peaceful, sleeping face. He carefully brought his hand up, so as not o wake her and softly began caressing her hair. In a matter of minutes he too fell asleep.

* * *

Bored, was exactly what Shuusei Kagari was at the moment. He aimlessly swiveled around in his chair until his eyes fell on something, a magazine, a teen magazine. The person featured on the cover looked very familiar. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized who he looked like. He quickly snatched it up.

"No way!" He exclaimed and began wildly waving it up and down. "Kunidzuka, Akane-chan, check this out!"

"What's that?" Yayoi asked blandly, her face betraying no emotion as usual. She walked over t the orange haired enforcer's desk. Akane too, out of curiosity had drawn herself there.

"Check this out!" Kagari chattered excitedly, "Doesn't the guy on the cover look exactly like Hotaru? Doesn't he?! Doesn't he?!"

"Nobody can see anything if you keep waving it up and down like that." The black haired enforcer commented dryly before snatching the magazine out of his hands. She motioned for the younger girl to come closer. The two of them peered at the cover.

Akane gasped in surprise, "It looks exactly like Hotaru!"

Yayoi nodded in agreement.

"Right?!"

Meanwhile Gino eyed the trio huddling together suspiciously. Getting up, he made his way over.

"What is going on here?"

"Ah, Gino-san, perfect timing!" Kagari's eyes lit up when he saw the man, "Take a look at this!"

Gino staggered backwards as the magazine was thrust into his hands.

"What's this-woah, this looks like Yoshino!" Looking at it in disbelief he flipped past a few pages, all of which seemingly featuring the youngest inspector. "Isn't this the latest issue of _Heat_?" Why is Yoshino on the cover?"

"That's what we've all been wondering." Akane said suddenly looking deep in thought, "Wait...isn't _Heat _that really famous teen magazine?"

Yayoi silently.

"Why's Hotaru featured in there?"

The glass doors slid open and a bleary eyed Hotaru stepped in, a cup of coffee in one hand and the other stifling a yawn.

"Morning." He greeted before gulping down his coffee.

"Speak of the devil..." Kagari muttered.

"What's up?" Hotaru asked, noticing his colleagues shocked expressions.

"Are you the one featured in this magazine?" Yayoi bluntly voiced the question that was craving an answer in everybody's minds.

He glanced over at the magazine.

"Mmm...yeah." He said stifling another yawn. Not noticing everyone's amazement he took his seat behind his desk.

Kagari whistled.

"i always thought you were a pretty boy, but to think you were actually one of_ Heat_'s top models...why didn't you tell us?!"

"Eh? But it never came up." Hotaru replied looking perplexed.

"Whatever you say, pretty boy..."

"Hey! I am not a pretty boy!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Are so!"

"Am not!"

"Are so!"

"Am not!"

"Are-"

"Get back to work!"

* * *

**Yay! fourth chapter!**

**OMG THE ENDING OF PSYCHO PASS JUST SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED! I hated it!**

**Your reviews are my drugs, please intoxicate me...**


	5. Chapter 5

**And without further ado...chapter five!**

* * *

"New case," Gino said briskly and began handing out some papers. Other than Kougami and Yayoi, who had their day off, everyone was present. Kagari groaned as he got a copy.

"It's so cold outside! I don't wanna go!"

"Don't say that Kagari-sempai!" Hotaru suddenly exclaimed, eyes bright and shining, "By catching this criminal, we save so many lives in the future! We. Will. Be. HEROES!"

Kagari stared at him and then face-palmed. A few seconds later he erupted into laughter.

The rest of the team stared at him in confusion and Hotaru looked slightly offended.

"What?!"

"Okay, let's all go be heroes!"

* * *

"This guy's pretty messy, huh?" Kagari commented as he surveyed the crime scene, large splashes of blood decorated the wall and the victim's body was sprawled in the corner of the room. He squatted to examine the body, wincing as he did so.

" Repeatedly raped, every odd finger cut off, as well as each even toe, nose and ears cut off, three stab wounds in the chest and multiple blows to the head." He listed, "What the hell happened?"

Gino's stomach twisted as he saw the carnage_. Poor girl... The file says that she was only sixteen, only an year older than Yoshino...Yoshino...! Yoshino shouldn't see this!_

"Masaoka, no matter what, do not let Yoshino in!"

Masaoka looked at his son's distraught expression and realized why, but he decided against complying. He understood why his son didn't want Hotaru to see this, but the boy had chosen to be an inspector himself, they couldn't protect him forever.

"Nobuchika, I'm sorry...but it's not my place to do that." He said ruefully.

Gino stared at his father in anger, he turned away and cursed under his breath.

"Why can't you do it? If he sees this, he'll be scarred for life! He...Yoshino's too young for this!"

"Too young for what?"

The bespeckled inspector stiffened up at the sound of Hotaru's voice, the latter looked at him questioningly as he tucked his dominator safely into it's holster. He shrugged, seeing that the man wasn't answering and began making his way to the crime scene.

"Wait, no!" Gino yelled, he was too late, Hotaru's eyes surveyed the scene as well as the mutilated carnage. To everyone's surprise he just pulled on a pair of latex gloves and began examining the body silently.

"I take it that the cause of death was trauma to the head right?" He asked after a quick look. He pulled off his gloves. "What's wrong, everyone?"

Gino shook his head, "Nothing. Let's just go back to work."

* * *

Gino tiredly rubbed his temples as he sank back in his chair, in the end they had tracked down the criminal and had requested the other unit to make the arrest, because they had been closer to the criminal._ Yoshino was so calm about this...I thought he'd pull out of this case after seeing the body...guess I was wrong. _

"Ah, Sempai are you staying overnight too?" Hotaru asked cheerfully, carrying a large stack of reports as he entered the room. "Man, I thought I'd be all alone!"

Gino lifted himself up from his desk, "Let me help."

"Uh, yeah sure."

The two of them had seated themselves at their respective desks. An awkward silence hung in the air.

"Okay, spill it." Hotaru suddenly said, putting the report he was holding, down.

"Excuse me?"

"Ever since the case you've been acting rather...weird."

"What-?" Gino reached for his cup of coffee, he looked at the younger inspector and sighed, "Sorry I...I guess I was just a bit surprised about how calm you were, considering this is your first murder case." He paused to take a sip, "Usually new inspectors just freak out. I'm impressed."

Hotaru awkwardly scratched the back of his head and looked down.

"It's not like that..." He mumbled. "I was trained before I came here." He began playing around with his thumbs and then picked up a few reports "I freaked out too at first, when I found out." He added quietly.

"Training, meaning the standard two month programme given to all new recruits?" Gino asked, although a part of him knew that the training Hotaru received was not the run of the mill training._ He probably doesn't like talking about it, but I'm quite curious..._He thought guiltily.

"No, this was different." Hotaru said almost inaudibly, practically burying himself in his paperwork. "Sorry Sempai, but I...don't like talking about it."

Gino nodded understandingly, noting the change in the boy's mood.

"Okay, I understand."

Hotaru gave the man a sad smile, "Thanks."

* * *

"Kougami-san..." Akane started with an exasperated tone, "Why am I on your shoulders?"

Kougami looked at her with innocent eyes, "But, inspector! You said you needed a hand reaching a book on one of the higher shelves, so I gave it to you..."

Akane sighed, the excuses this man came up with...

"Fine then, move a little to the left..." She reached up slightly and took the book down, "Thanks Kougami-san, you can put me down now." She patted his head indicating that she would like to be let off.

"No can do, Akane." Kougami said with a smirk.

"Wha-what do you mean? Let me down this instant!" Akane tugged at his hair insistently.

"Sorry, but I require payment for my service." He laughed feeling his hair being tugged at. "It doesn't always have to be in cash, you know..."

"Fine then!" Akane huffed, an idea made it's way into her mind and an evil, most un-Akane-ish smile formed on her face, "Fufufu..." She suddenly tugged hard at his hair, really hard. "GO BALD, SHINYA KOUGAMI!"

"Wha-OW!" The man yelped in pain at the sudden assault on his scalp. "Stop that!"

"No can do, Kougami-san, I require payment for my service and it doesn't always have to be in cash!" Akane threw back her head and laughed heartily, still pulling on Kougami's hair. Oh, revenge was sweet.

"Why you...using my own lines like that!"

* * *

"Are the arrangements ready, Choe?" Makishima Shogo asked, throwing open the curtains to let the moonlight in, causing his already pale skin to appear even more so.

"Almost ready, just a few more days." Choe said with a smile, "I think I can guess your interest in the little inspector, but why do you feel the need to test him? I thought you were fond of him."

"I am..." Makishima replied with an almost wistful smile, "I am more fond of him than he will ever realize but I have to test him to see how much he can handle, mentally."

His head suddenly snapped around and his amber eyes met with Choe's mechanical ones, there was a certain brutality in them. "Inform Senguji, that he can hunt anybody else but...he can't lay a single finger on Hotaru, if he does, well...he can bid farewell to his dreams of immortality..."

"Understood." Choe said with a nod as he opened the door to leave, "I'll inform him immediately."

Makishima stood alone in his dimly lit room, "Oh, Hotaru." He said softly, "Fate kept us apart for so long, too long...but soon we shall see each other again."

He drew the curtains close.

"I love you Hotaru."

* * *

**I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE LATE UPDATE! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! **

**I really haave no excuse except for my own laziness, please don't hate me! **

***sobbing* I'm sorry...you'll still give me your feedback right...? Please...?**

**P.S I'm taking ideas for side stories so feel free to tell me :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yeah, so sixth chapter at last!**

* * *

"So people who've been around this abandoned subway station never came back?" Kougami asked, he was seated in the passenger seat of Akane's car.

"That's right." Akane nodded, not taking her eyes off the road, not because she was afraid of an accident but because she wanted her mind to concentrate other that the fate of those who had gone into the station and never come out.

Hotaru leaned forward, he was sitting at the back, "So...even with all those people missing, nobody reported it?" He questioned.

"Right, apparently the ones missing were either latent criminals or people who were very close to the limit and unable to afford therapy." Akane's finger's tightened around the steering wheel, "Yuki got to know from a workmate who frequented a bar around this area."

Hotaru cast his eyes downward, "How horrible," he muttered, "hue or not, they were still humans."

Kougami cast him a look of sympathy, "That's just how the world works, kid."

The brown haired boy sighed, "Yeah, I know...are we there yet?"

Kougami groaned, Hotaru has asked it. The dreaded question, the question that could drive any parent or adult mad if asked enough times, "_Are we there yet_?"

Akane laughed, and relaxed a bit, "Thanks you two," She said gratefully, "For giving up your day off to help me out."

"Hey, it's an enforcer's duty to listen to the inspector." The black haired man said with a grin.

"Actually, Akane-nee-san, I should be the one thanking you." Hotaru muttered a look of dread showed on his face, "If it weren't for you my girlfriend would've..." He gulped.

"What's wrong?" The female inspector inquired, concerned, "You two don't get along?"

"It's not like that, it's just...her opinions on nutrition are...something else..." The boy mumbled in reply.

Kougami let out a snort of laughter, "Oh yeah, feisty isn't she?"

"Kougam-sempai, you know her?"

"Only from what Gino told me."

"Gino-sempai told you?! He promised not to tell anyone!" The boy wailed, "I will never trust him again!"

"Hey, chill out kid, blame the alcohol, Gino get's drunk really easily."

"Ginoza-san _drinks_?!" Akane asked in shock, it never occurred to her that the strict and uptight Ginoza she knew, drank.

Hotaru meanwhile, was fuming, Kougami shot him a look and smiled.

"Aw, come on, are you still mad?"

"I am _not_ skinny!"

"What does he mean?" Akane asked the black haired enforcer, who was holding his sides to keep him from laughing, in a whisper.

In an equally low voice, Kougami told her and the two burst out laughing.

"Hey! This isn't funny!"

* * *

Akane's car skidded to a halt in front of the old station, "Here we are." She said taking in a sharp breath.

"Man, it looks old." Hotaru observed as he hopped out of the car.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap?" Kougami asked a hint of suspicion in his voice as he surveyed the entrance, "Somebody could be after you." He nodded towards Akane.

"Me? No way!" She replied

The black haired man turned to look at her, "You're a detective, you know?"

"Geez! Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Yoshino and you, stay here and I'll go check it out, give me permission to carry arms."

"What do you mean '_Yoshino, stay here'_? I'm coming!" Hotaru argued and walked up to the enforcer. "Akane-nee-san, mention that I need arms too, please."

Kougami sighed, "Yoshino, it's not in my best interests to put either of you in danger so be a good boy and stay here with Akane."

"Wh-what?! Kougami-sempai, forgive me for asking, but are you stupid? It's more dangerous if you go alone, at least if I come, we can watch each others backs and if we need backup, Akane-nee-san will be here! So I'm coming!"

The black haired enforcer groaned inwardly, he had hoped Hotaru wouldn't have figured that out until he had left.

Meanwhile Akane had gotten them permission to carry arms, "They granted permission for only level 2 equipment, so you guys are gonna have to put up with stun batons and torches. Also I'll be keeping an eye on you guys with the location map." She explained as she handed them out.

Kougami gave Hotaru a weary look, "Yoshino, are you sure you want to come? If you get hurt, well...it's gonna hurt."

"Oh wow, Kougami-sempai, I wasn't aware of that before, thanks for giving me the heads up." Hotaru replied sarcastically. _What does he think I am? Of course I know it's gonna hurt if I get injured._

"Looks like there's no stopping you, huh?" Kougami said as he walked down the stairs of the station, a smug looking Hotaru following him, "Gino is gonna eat my head if anything happens to him." He muttered.

* * *

The inside of the station was musty, dark and filled with rubbish. Kougami was leading the way with his torch while Hotaru followed close behind.

"Akane, can you hear us?" Kougami asked, there was a lot of static but it seemed some connection was still available.

"Loud and clear, do you see anyone?"

"No, but I'll keep looking." He turned to Hotaru, "Stay, behind me."

As much as he didn't want to, the inspector nodded.

They continued walking until they reached one of the tracks, an old train stood there motionless.

"Akane-nee-san, we've come to the tracks." There was no reply.

"Isn't she saying anything?" Kougami asked.

"No, nothing-" Hotaru began to say until his terminal beeped with an incoming call from Akane.

"Hello? Can you hear us now?"

"It's an abandoned subway, please check the cars."

The two of them went towards the car right in front of them, Kougami cautiously grabbed the handle but was almost thrown off when the train suddenly began moving.

"What the-"

"Kougami-sempai!" Hotaru yelled and grabbed the older man's arm in an attempt to pull him off the train but his efforts were in vain as he too was dragged by the train.

"Hang on, Yoshino!" Kougami yanked open the door and managed to throw himself along with Hotaru in. The two of them lay panting on the floor while the train continued to move forward.

"Kougami-sempai, you okay?" Hotaru asked as soon as he got his breath back.

The black haired pulled himself up, "Yeah, you?"

"I'm fine." He replied as he stood up. "Why'd it suddenly start moving? Wasn't this place abandoned like, sixty years ago?"

Kougami shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

Hotaru checked his terminal, "We've been cut off from outside communication." He said flatly.

Kougami swore, "So we did walk into a trap."

"Seems like it."

Meanwhile outside, Akane frantically tried calling both Kougami and Hotaru, the two had seemingly walked through a dead end and suddenly began moving forward rapidly. None of her calls went through. With a heavy heart she quickly began calling Gino.

* * *

The train finally seemed to have stopped and the two got off cautiously. They walked through a wide corridor and came to a large room built like a maze.

"What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" Kougami muttered.

* * *

**Yaaaaaaaay! action at last!**

**By the way if I don't get enough reviews I'm not gonna continue.**

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**Just Kidding! I just wanted to try saying that! I mean I really love it when you guys review, but I'm not gonna stop just coz I don't get enough!**

**Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Whoa! the seventh chapter came up a lot faster than I expected, I had loads of fun writing this one!**

* * *

"Ah, they're here," Makishima commented to his companion, watching the duo make their way into the 'stage' he had prepared for them.

His companion, Toyohisa Senguuji, chuckled, "It will be quite the delight, playing with the prey this time."

The white haired man smiled, "Sadly today will have some restrictions."

"Oh? Of what sort?"

Makishima drummed his fingers on the railing of the balcony they were standing on, "You can play, but you can't kill."

"Is that all?"

"No, there's one more."

"Oh, and that would be?"

"The boy, neither you nor your pets can lay a hand on him." With that Makishima left.

A small smile formed on Senguji's synthetic face, " You know Makishima-kun," He said softly, "I don't think I'll be able to comply to restrictions." He chuckled sinisterly,

"Especially with the boy, the younger the prey is, the more entertaining it is to hunt."

* * *

Kougami slowly shook his head, half in disbelief at the fact that he had walked right into a trap and half in anger, mostly directed at himself, that he had walked right into a trap. He turned around to look at the young inspector, the boy's eyes were darting around, looking for a clue as to what or who had caused their current predicament.

"Sempai..." Hotaru turned to him, a touch of fear in his voice, "Please tell me you know where we are..."

"I have no idea..." The older man said, "But, we'll make it out of this." His gray eyes met Hotaru's fearful, amber ones, instinctively he reached out and patted the boy's head, "Trust me."

Hotaru sucked in a deep breath,_Calm down_...he said to himself, _Calm down_..."Okay."

"That's the spirit." Kougami reassured the boy, "Stick close."

The duo began walking along the narrow corridor cautiously, Kougami in front. Occasionally one of them would shine their torch on something.

"Ah, there's something over there," Hotaru said, stopping, the light beam on his torch shone over something, "It looks like...hm...hey it's a bag!"

"Stay here, I'll get it." Kougami slowly stepped towards it and in one fluid movement he quickly grabbed it. "Chemical lights and a first aid kit." he said examining the bag's contents.

"Oh cool, we can use the chemical lights instead of our torches." The brown haired boy said with a grin, picking one up. "But what's the first aid kit for?" He wondered.

"Probably to make sure that at least something can be done if a klutz like you trips over his own feet." The older man joked.

"Haha, very funny, Sempai." Hotaru said sarcastically, incidentally, he didn't notice that his shoe laces were undone, "Ow!" He yelped in pain as he tripped over.

"Do I need to elaborate?" Kougami asked helping the boy to his feet, a smirk plastered all over his face.

"I'm not clumsy, I just have poor foot coordination!"

* * *

An hour passed with them wandering through the maze like hallways and corridors, an hour and they had found nothing, absolutely nothing to help them escape.

"I'm kinda tired..." Hotaru mumbled, dragging his feet wearily as he followed the older man, he swept his eyes across the room, "Hey, Sempai?" He tugged on the man's sleeve, and pointed to a corner, "Doesn't that look like another bag?"

Kougami looked at where the boy pointed, "I think you're right." He cautiously walked towards and grabbed it, the sound of grating metal suddenly ripped through the air and a low growl was heard, two hunting drones in the shape of dogs came into focus.

"RUN!" Kougami yelled as the drone began chasing them.

The two ran for what seemed like hours, seeing a large crate, Hotaru motioned that they should hide behind it, the enforcer nodded in agreement. Upon reaching it, the two of them sank to the flow panting heavily to regain their breath.

"Th-think we lost it?" The brown haired boy asked, glancing behind him.

"I don't know." Kougami replied, he opened the second bag. "There's a portable transmitter in here, but it's missing a battery pack."

"So it's pretty much useless huh?"

"It's like a game of hunting." The older man said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Hotaru voiced in confusion, "Hunting as in, 'predator and prey'?

"That's right, this is probably what happened to all the other victims."

"But we'll get out of this together, right Sempai?"

Kougami looked at Hotaru's face, it was full of determination. "Of course."

The sound of low growling was heard and the duo tensed up. Kougami slowly rose to his feet, the drones were looking for them.

"Stay here," He told Hotaru in a low voice, "I'll go try to take at least one of them out."

"What?! No! Kougami-sempai! You can't go alone! Let me help!"

The man turned to face his young companion, "No!" He said with a glare, "Your strength is no match for those drones, they'll make mincemeat out of you!" He turned to leave.

"The base of their necks, sempai." Hotaru said, the older man turned to look at him.

"What?"

"The base of their necks." He repeated, "That's their weakest and most sensitive point. Be careful, sempai."

Kougami grinned, "Thanks, got it."

He leaped over the crate and whistled, the drones turned their attention to him immediately and ran towards him. Readying himself with his stun baton, he brought it down on the larger one's neck with all the force he could muster. It whimpered slightly and then went still. The other one was nowhere to be seen, he looked around, it was perched on top of the crate, a sick feeling rose in his stomach.

"Yoshino!" He began scrambling to the crate.

* * *

The rest of the team had gathered in front of the subway station. Akane explained what happened, Gino's brows furrowed in a frown.

"He couldn't have escaped, he had Yoshino with him...a trap?"

Yayoi was accessing the map of the area with her laptop. "It's not a problem with the hardware, it's with the software, the place has been renovated so many times that there isn't a solid map of it."

Masaoka stepped inside, "Well at least they haven't drowned."

"What do you mean?" Gino questioned walking to where his father was standing.

"The place is flooded with water and liquid waste, at any case we can't use this entrance."

"Then how do we get in?!"

"Inspector, there's a back entrance." Yayoi said handing him the laptop.

"Oh, okay, let's go there."

* * *

Hotaru was fixing the antenna to the terminal, when he heard the growling.

"Huh?" His eyes landed on the drone, _Crap_... He tried reaching for his stun baton, too late, the drone jumped down immediately, it jaws clamped around his right arm.

"Aaaargh!" He let out a scream of pain as the drone's long metal teeth sank into the tender flesh of his arm. Biting his lip, he tried to shake it off.

Meanwhile, Kougami quickly vaulted over the crate, bringing his baton down on the drone, after a few seconds it went still.

"Yoshino..." He moved closer to the boy who was slumped against the wall, beads of sweat sliding down his face. "I'm going to pry the drone off you," He said in what he hoped was a comforting voice, "I'm not going to lie, it will hurt, but I need you to stay still, can you do that?"

Hotaru nodded.

"Okay, here goes..." He swiftly removed the drone's jaws.

The boy's body arched and he let out an agonized scream.

"Okay, it's over...it's over..." Kougami said patting the boy's head.

"It...hurts..w-way worse...than being shot..." Hotaru panted after the pain had subsided slightly.

"It looks painful enough." Kougami replied, rolling up the inspector's sleeve to examine the wounds, he frowned as he observed the inflamed skin around the injured area. "It's gone through the bone and seems like the drone's teeth was coated with something."

"Like a poison?"

The older man nodded as brought the broken drone closer to inspect it's jaws, his guess was right, a thin almost clear film of liquid coated each tooth. He sniffed at it cautiously.

"Looks like some sort of pain enhancer. It's not deadly, but it'll make your arm hurt a lot more than it should." He said pulling out the first aid kit out of one of the bags. He took out a roll of bandages, gauze, antiseptic, cotton wool and a small syringe.

"What's the needle for?" Hotaru asked suspiciously, eyeing the syringe.

"Well it's gonna hurt cleaning the wound so I thought I'd give you a shot of anesthetic first to numb up your arm." Kougami uncapped the syringe and began filling it with a clear liquid from a tiny bottle.

"NO! Sempai, you are not gonna stick me with that needle! I hate needles!" He scrambled away from the older man.

"Yoshino, it won't hurt, it's just a needle, it's gonna help you."

"No way! I hate needles! I hate them! Toss it somewhere! Get it away from me!" He began panting heavily as the enforcer slowly approached him.

"Yoshino...do you want to go through the pain of cleaning up your wound?"

"It's a lot better than getting a needle!"

"No it's not, just close your eyes, it'll be over in a minute, trust me."

"Please Sempai...I have a phobia... " Hotaru begged with pleading (puppy dog) eyes, "Don't do this to me..."

Kougami sighed, unable to resist and recapped the syringe, "Fine, but if you start squirming while I'm cleaning , I'm going to stick you with it, no questions asked."

"Roger! I will be Captain No-Squirming!"

He stayed as still as he could while the older man patched his arm up.

"Done." The enforcer said after finishing, he helped the younger boy to his feet. "Tell me if you feel sick or something."

The two began walking when something caught Hotaru's eye.

"Ah, sempai, the battery pack! It's taped to the drone!" the boy almost yelled in happiness, pointing to the broken drone with his uninjured arm.

"So it is." Kougami plucked it off the drone and inserted it into the terminal, he dialed Akane's number.

* * *

Akane's terminal began ringing.

"Hello." She answered and gasped in shock when she heard whose voice it was at the other end.

"Akane is that you?"

* * *

**Man, this one was a bit longer than usual but like I said it was fun writing it (coz Im a sadist ;) hehe) It was fun torturing Hotaru like that, I think I'll do it somemore next chapter.**

**Well Bye-Bye!**

**Tune in for more!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, word of warning; I was in a very sadistic mood whilst writing this so...er...er...prepare yourselves my dear readers!**

**P.s I have a couple of links for pics of Hoatru in my profile, if you're curious as to how he looks, you can go there!**

* * *

_"Akane, is that you?"_ Akane's eyes went wide with shock after hearing the voice on the other end.

"K-Kougami-san!" She blurted.

The rest of the team stopped in their tracks, hearing their colleague's name being mentioned, Gino practically ran to where Akane was standing.

"Kougami, Yoshino, where are you?! Are the two of you alright?" He asked, not masking the worry in his voice.

_"I'm fine, but Yoshino isn't."_ Came the crackly response.

"What happened?! Is he conscious?!" He yelled, panic evident in his tone. He mentally cursed himself, ever since the younger inspector had taken the bullet for him, Gino had felt obliged to look out for him. _But now...now...Ugh! I need to get my act together!_

_"Umm...Sempai, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still alive..._" Hotaru's cheerful, albeit weaker sounding voice replied._ "I just hurt my arm a little that's all."_

_"A little? You're probably gonna need surgery."_

_"No, I don't! Leave my poor arm alone! It'll heal a lot faster without people sticking weird needles into it!"_

"Surgery? Yoshino's going to need surgery?" Gino forced himself to remain calm.

_"Yes."_ came Kougami's calm reply

_"NO!"_ was Hotaru's angry protest.

Akane and the rest of the team heaved a sigh of relief, the mere fact that they had enough energy to argue indicated that they were more or less okay.

"Kougami-san, Hotaru, don't worry, we're coming down to get you!"

"Yeah!" Kagari agreed with a grin and then added as an afterthought, "Don't you go do anything naughty to Hotaru else his girlfriend'll slaughter you!"

_"What?!"_

_"Too bad Kagari, I don't swing that way."_

"We're using the back entrance, since the main one is flooded. Try get as close as possible to that area." Yayoi interjected with the piece of information before everyone forgot with all the arguing.

Gino felt like smacking himself for almost forgetting to tell the two that.

"At any rate, we'll try to reach you guys as fast as possible. Kou, take care of the kid." Masaoka chimed in kindly.

_"Sure, pops."_

_"Stop treating me like a-"_

_"Come on, let's try to get out of this place."_ The sound of Kougami dragging Hotaru away was evident.

_"Hey! Stop dragging me! Stop treating me like a kid! Let me go! I will have my revenge!"_

* * *

Toyohisa Senguji's artificial eyes glinted as he viewed the duo communicate with the rest of their team.

"I think it's around time I step in." His lips parted in a sneer, "I have high hopes for the cub...he will not fail to entertain me." He loaded the last bullet into his gun.

"Well now, the true chase will begin."

* * *

His arm throbbed painfully, and his body felt unusually cold and ached all over_. I'm probably getting a fever, stupid weak body._ Hotaru silently berated himself, putting a hand over his injury, it came away wet with blood_. Ugh, I can't be weak...can't be weak...can't be..._He wanted to just slump against the wall and fall asleep but that wasn't an option.

The sound of humming filled his ears.

"S...Sempai?" He looked questioningly at Kougami.

The enforcer nodded, "Yeah, there's someone else around."

A man stepped into their field of vision, clad in hunting attire, a large shotgun in his hands.

"Good day." He said and pointed the gun at them.

"RUN!" Kougami yelled grabbing Hotaru's wrist, pulling the boy with him, but their escape was cut off by three hunting drones running in.

Kougami cursed, "What do you want?" He spat at the unfamiliar man.

"Me? As you can see, I'm simply entertaining myself with a game of hunting." He paused, taking out a cloth to wipe the nozzle of his gun. "And now, I have caught my prey." He cocked his gun and fired before anyone could react. It hit Hotaru square in his side. Stunned he looked down at the growing red stain on his blue t-shirt. Wordlessly he collapsed to the ground, a pool of blood slowly beginning to form around him.

"What the hell... DID YOU JUST DO?!" Kougami screamed, charging at the man.

"I simply hunted the cub first." He said, dodging the strike. "It makes for more entertainment." He snapped his fingers and the drones began inching in closer.

"We're not your toys to play with, you son of a-" He was interrupted by one of the hunting drones charging at him, he cursed, harshly bringing down the baton on it's neck. He was still outnumbered and if the man and both his remaining drones attacked at once, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist them all at once. He cursed again, shooting a glance at Hotaru, the boy was barely breathing and he had lost far too much blood already, the situation was bad. This was probably it for them. There were too many enemies, he couldn't fight them all.

_"Kou, take care of the kid."_

Masaoka's words drummed in his ears,_ "Kou, take care of the kid."_ He couldn't give up now, he looked at Hotaru again, although it was almost undetectable, the kid was still breathing, he was fighting so hard for his life. Kougami realized that he didn't have the right to end it for both of them by giving up. With a battle cry he flew at the two drones, but at the same time keeping a weary eye on the man.

Toyohisa Senguji was enjoying himself, smiling he cocked the gun again and pointed it at the enforcer, his finger curled over the trigger, slowly...so very slowly.

The sound of a gun being fired twice ripped through the air, Kougami braced himself for the pain and waited but none came, instead the two drones he had been wrestling fell to the flow, completely still, with bullet holes in their heads. He looked around to see what had caused the commotion and his eyes fell on a white haired man. Clad in clothing a rich college student might wear, he held a still smoking revolver loosely in one hand, the other in his pocket. Silently with a smile on his face that could only be described as sinister he pointed the gun at the cyborg and fired straight at his head. Toyohisa Senguji didn't even try to dodge.

Makishima Shogo dropped the gun as the cyborg crashed to the ground and hurried to where Hotaru was lying. He bent down slowly turn him over.

Meanwhile Kougami, picked up the gun the white haired man had let fall, "Stay away from the boy." He ordered coldly.

Makishima turned to face him, "I am not your enemy." He reassured, "I just saved you and now I want to save Hotaru as well, you are going to have to trust me if you want him to live to see tomorrow." He kept his gaze trained on the dark haired man.

Kougami gave in, "Fine," he said, "There's a first aid kit, I'll go get it." He rushed off to find it.

Makishima turned back to Hotaru, "Oh Hotaru," He breathed, taking off the young inspector's t-shirt, "I'm so sorry, please, please stay alive." He looked around to see if Kougami was back, the man had not arrived yet, he slipped a folded piece of paper into the boy's pocket. "I hope you get to see that." he whispered.

Kougami hurried back, kit in hand. He squatted down next to Makishima.

"Hold him down." Makishima said, taking a silver blade out of his pocket and unfolding it. "I think it's also best if you gag him."

"No anesthetic?" Kougami asked incredulously, he reached for a syringe.

"That meager amount of medication will be of no use, save to upset him."

With a heavy heart the enforcer complied by pulling the boy onto his lap and stuffing a handkerchief in his mouth, the same thing had happened to him some years prior, Gino and Sasayama had to gag him and hold him down while Masaoka had fished the bullet out with a knife. It was the most painful thing he had experienced and he had been twenty-three at that time.

"Ready?" The white haired man asked.

Kougami nodded, his grip on the boy's shoulder's tightened. _I'm sorry, Yoshino. You're gonna hate me for this, I'm sorry._

Makishima carefully inserted the blade in and began to gouge the bullet out. As soon as the blade went in, the thrashing began. Kougami did his best to hold him still, but of course he couldn't completely stop the boy's wild struggling, he'd even managed to loosen the handkerchief.

"STOP! STOP IT, PLEASE!" he screamed in agony as the gag slipped off, tears running down his cheeks. "IT HURTS! PLEASE!"

"Just a little more..." Makishima muttered, perspiration thick on his brow, the bullet was halfway through now. "Just bear with it for a little while more...done!" He took the bloodied blade out and placed it down, he quickly grabbed a compress and pressed it to the wound.

"Bandages, gauze." Kougami wordlessly fished them out and handed them over.

Hotaru's breathing was fast and uneven, during the process of bandaging he had found Kougami's hand and gripped it tightly.

"I'm finished." Makishima rose to leave, he took one last look at Hotaru.

"Wait!" The enforcer suddenly blurted, he stared at the white haired man, "Thank you." He mumbled.

Makishima smiled, "You're welcome, if it's for Hotaru, I'll do anything."

Only Kougami and and the young inspector were left in the room now. Hotaru still resting on his lap, still holding his hand. The dark haired man used his free hand to softly pat the boy's head, comforting him, just like an older brother would to a younger one.

"Sempai...it hurts..." The boy whimpered, tears welling up in his eyes. "It hurts..."

"I know it does, I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Kougami whispered, continuing to pat Hotaru's head.

"Don't...apo...logize...was...my...fault...should' ve...figured...out."

"Shush, don't talk, you'll waste your energy." The grip on the older man's hand loosened.

"Hurts...m...tired..." he mumbled weakly, his eyes slowly closing.

Kougami lightly shook him, causing them to flutter open "Sorry Yoshino, but you have to stay awake."

"Don't...wanna."

"Please?"

Hotaru looked at him with unfocused eyes, "Story."

"You want me to tell you a story?" The young inspector gave a slight nod.

Kougami thought for a while, wondering what he could possibly say that would interest the boy. Sport? No, Hotaru wasn't all that strong so he probably didn't like it. Books? Nah, he didn't know what kinds the kid liked. Work? What could he say-he suddenly got the perfect story.

"The first time," He began, pausing to make sure the boy was still awake. He was, "Akane and I met," A smile formed on his features as though he was reliving a fond memory, "She shot me with her dominator."

* * *

They had heard the gunshots a good thirty minutes ago. Gino cursed silently, he hoped that the two were okay.

"Inspector."

"Gino-san."

He turned to the source of the voices, Kagari and Yayoi were standing outside a large doorway.

"What?"

"It seems that this is the last room." Akane walked up to them, "Those two have to be here." _Kougami-san, Hotaru...we're here, please be alright, please._ She added silently.

"Right," Gino nodded pushing up his glasses which had slid down, "Let's go, send the drones in."

* * *

**Okay so I was a bit of a sadist here (gets pelted by stones)...Fine! Fine! I was a giant evil sadistic monster, but I enjoyed writing this chapter! I really did!**

**And I'm sorry, no KogaNe in this one but there is in the next, it's already typed out.**

**One more thing, I have a tiny request:**** If you don't mind****, if any of you decide to drop a review (or pm me), can you tell me the stuff you like and stuff you dislike about Hotaru?**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**So I thinks it's about time I updated...so here you go; Chapter 9!**

* * *

Kougami ruffled Hotaru's hair. The boy was struggling to stay awake.

"You can do it, Yoshino." He encouraged, "How about another story?" No response except for a slight shake of the head by the boy.

He shook his head, it was no use, the young inspector was clearly in too much pain.

_I'm tired, it hurts...it hurts...it hurts...I'm tired, I want to close my eyes, Kougami-sempai won't let me...it hurts...Shiho-chan...Shiho-chan...it hurts..._Sleep had never felt so inviting, closing his eyes was all he wanted to do currently, to forget all the pain.

"Shiho-chan..." He mumbled, a gasp of pain escaped his lips. He felt his eyes closing, everything around him was becoming darker and darker.

"Yoshino? Yoshino, wake up." Kougami shook him lightly again, but to no avail, the boy had already slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

"Kougami!"

"Kougami-san!"

He heard the sound of Gino's and Akane's voices calling out for him, they had finally arrived. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

"Over here!" He yelled in response.

Running footsteps were heard and soon the two inspectors' breathless faces could be seen.

"Kougami-san!" Akane exclaimed, her eyes swept over the room taking in the injured boy on the enforcer's lap, the bodies of three hunting drones and the body of a man. She almost sank to her knees "What, happened here?"

"Yoshino! Why is he-what happened to him?!" Gino asked, seeing the amount of blood on Hotaru's shirt.

"It's a long story," Kougami said wearily, carefully lifting the boy up, he was unsurprisingly light. "Is there an ambulance outside?"

"There is," Masaoka answered, "Give him to me, you're probably tired after everything."

Yayoi meanwhile, walked over to the body lying face down and pointed her dominator at it.

"Toyohisa Senguji." She said, surprise showing on her normally emotionless face.

"Ya serious!?" Kagari came up to her and pointed his dominator on the body as well, the readings were the same. "His crime coefficient before he died was 431, no way..."

"We can leave the drones here to clean up. Let's leave." Gino said cocking his head in their direction.

"Shiho-chan..." Hotaru suddenly mumbled, everybody's heads snapped to where Masaoka was carrying him.

"Hotaru...are you awake?" Akane asked, coming up to him.

"Shiho-chan... no...stop it...it tickles..." He grinned, he was still asleep.

"He's talking in his sleep," Masaoka said with a smile, "He looks happy, wonder what he's dreaming about."

"What's the bet it's not something naughty about his girlfriend?" Kagari asked with a smirk.

Gino sighed, "We can gamble later, Kagari. Let's just get out of here now."

* * *

_Everything's so white...what happened? Oh yeah...I got shot...Mmm...I guess I'm dead then?...But why do I see Shiho-chan bending over me?...Stupid me, I'm dead and this is heaven! God probably made an angel replica of my girlfriend, He's so nice..._

"Hotaru! Oh my god! He opened his eyes!" Shiho almost screamed in happiness at the sight of her boyfriend whose eyes had slowly opened. She lightly squeezed his hand, which she had been holding almost non-stop for the past two days. "Hotaru...can you talk? How are you feeling? Does it hurt?"

Hotaru looked at her with disorientated eyes. _Wow...God's really awesome, she sounds just like the Shiho-chan I knew..._

"Yoshino, you're up..." Gino said in a relieved tone, he put out a hand and ruffled the younger inspector's hair. Hotaru turned to the source of the voice, _God...I kinda get why you think I'd need a replacement for Shiho-chan, but why have you made one of Sempai as well?_

"Yoshino is...something wrong?" The bespeckled man asked, he wondered why Hotaru was staring at him with such a confused look on his face.

"God made another Shiho-chan for me...but why did he make another you?" The boy asked in a voice, hoarse from not being used for two days.

"Huh?" Both Gino and Shiho asked simultaneously.

"I mean, if I'm dead and in heaven-"

"Yoshino, we've been through this before, you are not dead! None of us are!" Gino sighed and then chuckled.

"I'm...not..dead?"

"No, my Hotaru lives to see another day!" Shiho sang, she put her arms around him and fondly kissed his cheek.

"He's awake! Let's party!" Kagari suddenly barged in along with the rest of the team.

"Yeah, let's party Hotaru-chan! You can drink right?" Shion asked as she walked in, swinging a bottle of whiskey in the air.

"Shion, he's a little too young for that." Masaoka said, taking the bottle away from the blonde.

Yayoi nodded in agreement.

"No way! All of you get out! I want to be alone with my Hotaru!" Shiho protested, getting up to push them out.

"Meanie! Let us stay a bit! We'll look the other way when you two begin making out!"

"Wha-we haven't made out yet!"

"Yoshino, how're you doing?" Kougami called out out from the entrance.

"Hotaru, I'm so glad you're awake." Akane managed to weave herself over to gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Everyone, this is a hospital! Be quiet!"

Hotaru surveyed the scene before him, Shiho trying to push everyone out, Kagari protesting, the rest of them laughing, Gino trying to get everyone to keep it down. He started laughing, it seemed almost unreal.

"Man, and here I thought I was dead!" He sank back into his pillows. "Shiho-chan, just let them in, they're not gonna leave anyway."

"Yay! Party! Party! Party"

* * *

"There you are, Akane." Kougami said, walking out into the small balcony of the hospital room. He stood next to the female inspector, "Mind if I join?"

"Sure." She answered, turning to face him, "It's so quiet, where are the others?"

"Kagari, Shion and Yayoi said something about wanting to explore and had forced Gino to come with them, Pops said that he'd better go as well to keep them out of mischief."

"Oh, I see." She laughed, thinking about what kind of face Gino had made when Masaoka had said that, "Why'd you come out here anyway Kougami-san?"

The dark haired man chuckled, "Well Yoshino and his girlfriend seemed to be having a 'moment' so I thought I'd give them some privacy."

The two of them turned around and sure enough, Hotaru had his arms around Shiho, the two of them seemed to be on the verge of a kiss.

"And also," Kougami continued, he cleared his throat,"I thought that I wanted to have a 'moment' with you as well..." He placed his hand over Akane's small one.

Akane blushed, "It's nice to see that you're not injured in any way, Kougami-san."

"Call me Shinya." He said bluntly.

"Eh, what?"

"I mean, you call Yoshino by his given name so why won't you call me by mine?"

"Well, that is...er...how do I put it, he's younger than me and I see him as a little brother...and..." She stumbled trying to find the words, in her mind she wondered, why didn't she call Kougami by his first name?"

"But you let me call you Akane."

"Well...er..." She looked up at him, her brown eyes met his gray ones. She took in a deep breath and smiled, "Sh-Shinya..."

"I like the sound of that." He smirked and without another word he bent down and kissed her on the lips. Expecting her to recoil or push him away, he was genuinely surprised when she returned it.

"There," She said after they had pulled away from each other, her cheeks a brilliant red. "We had a 'moment'."

"Oh, yes we did." He put his arm over her shoulders, "Akane?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we have more 'moments' like this one in the future?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I'm saying that..." He turned around to face her, "I like you, a lot." His cheeks were now a faint pink. _God, I sound worse than a highschool kid._

"Sh-Shinya...I like you too." Akane said she took one of his hands in both of hers and began to softly stroke it.

Kougami grinned, "So does this make me your boyfriend now?"

"I guess it does since I'm your girlfriend now."

Kougami pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head. "Can I tell you something? It's kind of creepy though."

"Go for it."

"I've liked you ever since you shot me with that paralyzer."

"...That IS creepy."

* * *

Kougami sat down on the chair next to the hospital bed. "Hey, how's it going today?" He greeted.

"Tired," Hotaru mumbled a reply and brought the blankets around him closer, "and cold."

Kougami placed the back of his hand on Hotaru's forehead, "How on earth did you get yourself this sick, in a hospital?" He wondered aloud after taking his hand away from the boy's warm forehead.

"Apparently, I didn't get enough rest yesterday." he sniffed and poked a hand out from under the heap of blankets over him to grab a tissue, as soon as he had blown his nose and disposed of the tissue, his hand went back in, "Cause everyone came over."

Kougami chuckled, "Figures."

"You should've listened to how the nurse scolded Gino-sempai, it was so funny."

"I bet it was, what did she say?"

"Something about that if the worked at the MWPSB, he should look out for the public's welfare like it says in the name and she never called him Ginoza-san, only." He laughed but it soon turned into a fit of coughing. "Sorry" he mumbled.

"It's fine, were you given any medicine?"

Hotaru nodded, "Yeah, to take after breakfast."

"Okay, so did you have breakfast?" Kougami asked although he was fully aware of the answer he was about to receive.

The boy sheepishly shook his head.

The man sighed, "I can see why both your girlfriend and Gino were so worried about you having to stay alone that they asked me look after you."

"I don't feel like eating."

"Not an excuse." Kougami said as he got up and stripped off the blankets covering the young inspector. "Come on, let's go down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast."

"Hey! Gimme my blankets back!" Hotaru protested, he was clad in only a pair of light blue shorts and a white t-shirt, which to him, didn't seem to help much on his feverish body. "It's cold..."

"No way, you'll overheat your body, wrapped up like that." Kougami said firmly, "Now up."

Hotaru groaned and got off the bed with the enforcer's help. He winced, moving around made his side and arm hurt.

"Can't I get something sent up here?"

"You could, but moving around a bit will do you some good."

The boy groaned again leaning heavily on the older man as they made their way to the elevator.

"Kougami-sempai, what grudge do you hold against me?"

* * *

"That's it, I can't and I won't eat anymore!" Hotaru said putting the remaining half of his hot-dog down.

"Just one more bite, take one more." Kougami tried coaxing.

"Nu-uh! No way! Not happening!"

The enforcer leaned back on his chair and sighed, "Well judging from your response, at least you sound better."

Hotaru shrugged and gulped down his medicine with a glass of water.

"Oh yeah, Sempai," He said with a smirk.

"Hm?"

"Congratulations on graduating from your status as a single man."

"How did you know?" Kougami asked curiously.

"Well, you guys were quite loud last evening...so...hehe...treat Akane-nee-san good!"

"Brat."

"Hey, I'm YOUR sempai in dating and love and stuff!"

"Yes, yes Yoshino-sempai, please treat this humble and ignorant kohai of yours, who in actuality is thirteen years older than you, very well." The enforcer replied getting up.

"What part of that was humble?" Hotaru mumbled also getting up. "You know, this probably destroys aaalll chances of you getting my advice on stuff to buy for girls or what they like or where to take them..."

Kougami paused in his tracks and almost mechanically turned his head around, "They...have specific likes?"

The young inspector tried to keep a straight face, "Lots of them."

"In places for dates as well?"

"Naturally."

Kougami was dumbstruck, he had never assumed that girls liked different things. "Yoshino-no, Hotaru, you don't mind me calling you that do you? I know we didn't really talk much when you first joined but recently, I've come to see you as a younger sibling-"

"Kougami-Sempai," Hotaru interrupted, a smile plastered all over his face, "you need my help, don't you?"

"...yes."

* * *

**God, I'm such a bad girl, just how many times did I write 'kiss' in this chapter anyway? I'm a bad, bad person...**

**Yay, Kou-chan finally confessed! Yes! It was about time he did! And now he has Hotaru as his love advisor...Btw, thanks to all the lovely people who gave feedback about Hotaru it really helped!**

**Bye-Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten...**

* * *

_Dear Hotaru,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. You may be wondering why I have written this letter to you, to answer that, I pose a question to you, "Have you ever thought about your family?" Regardless as to whether you may have or may have not thought about it, you have been told that thirteen years ago, your entire family passed away tragically in a fire, your family that consisted of your father, mother and yourself. You were the only child and your parents did not have any relatives, thus you were sent to the orphanage. But do you really believe that? You're a smart boy, I have watched your progress throughout these thirteen years and you have never failed to amaze me. I know about them, I know about your family and...we have a bond much closer than you think. If you wish to see me and know who I am, come to the food court in the city center at 1:00 pm, I wait there everyday. Remember Hotaru, the choice is yours, if you are uninterested, it's fine, but if you are interested, I will always be there._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Shogo Makishima._

Hotaru slumped face up on his bed as he re-read the letter for the ninth time that day, the thirty-sixth time that week, yes, he counted. He groaned and felt like crushing up the stupid piece of paper and throwing it away, thus making it possible to forget all about it. He placed the back of his palm over his face and closed his eyes. Two seconds later they snapped back open. It was true, he had never really believed the people at the orphanage, but at the same time he had never felt an urge or desire to actually find out about his family. Until now that is.

_Idiot,_ he silently berated himself,_ you're supposed to be a genius! Why am I still agonizing over some stupid thing like this! I should just ignore this! That's right, I'm gonna get up and toss this letter into dustbin, where it belongs! Like hell I'm gonna believe some random guy who shoves a letter into my pocket while I'm half dead!_

He rose to do exactly what he had planned, crumpling the paper, he walked to the corner of his room where a small waste paper basket stood. He held the crushed paper loosely with his fingers, but found himself unable to let go.

_Aaaaah, damn. I knew this would happen. Okay nice hand of mine, please let go._

His hand refused to budge.

_I'm serious, let go._

No sign of movement once again.

Hotaru realized that he was not going to be winning this fight with himself. "Fine!" He snapped, "Fine! I'll go see him tomorrow! Happy now?"

His hand seemed to be so and without anymore argument it let the crumpled piece of paper fall.

Hotaru groaned again and ran his fingers through his hair, he dreaded the coming of the following day.

* * *

Today was their first official date as a couple. Kougami paced around his living room, glancing at his watch every minute or so. The last time he checked, it read 11: 56 and that was around a minute ago. In less than five minutes she would be here. _God, why am I so nervous? Just chill out, just chill out..._He heard his doorbell ring and momentarily stiffened up before going to answer it.

"Hi." Kougami said as he opened the door to let Akane-his girlfriend in.

"Hello, how are you, Shinya?" Akane greeted with a cheerful smile.

The black haired enforcer mentally ran through the crash course of dating Hotaru had given him, what was the first thing again? The hug! Kougami inwardly sighed in relief as he remembered the youngest inspector's advice, there was only one little problem; how was he supposed to go about it? Should he just hug her without warning? Or should he say so first? He decided on the former. Taking a deep breath Kougami pulled the brown haired inspector into an embrace.

"Sh-Shinya! What are you doing?" Akane asked in surprise, blushing.

"Er, hugging you?" Kougami replied, his cheeks showing the slightest hint of red. "Ho-I was told that it was a couple thing to do..."

"Oh, okay." the girl smiled, "So are you gonna let me go so that we can watch that movie anytime soon?"

"Oh! er...yeah" The enforcer said and let go. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"Nothing to be sorry about." Akane reassured and without a moment's hesitation, she slipped her hand in his, "So shall we?"

"Sure."

* * *

_I didn't get any sleep at all last night.._.Hotaru thought as he brushed his teeth in slow, zombie like motions, there were slight bags under his eyes and his hair stuck out in odd directions._ Not good..._he berated himself,_ I shouldn't be this nervous..._ He took in a breath and glared at his right hand which hung motionlessly by his side. _This is all your fault-wait, what are you doing, me? You're blaming your own hand!_ He sighed as he finished brushing his teeth, it was still 9 in the morning, he still had plenty of time to spend before meeting that man, Shogo Makishima. The only problem was, what was he going to do with his time? He couldn't go to work, since he was pretty much forced into taking a week off and Shiho had school. He reached for his phone,_ Guess I'll just call up Heat and tell them I'll be coming in for a shoot. _

* * *

Time passed by quickly at the photo studio and it was soon half past twelve.

"Thanks for the hard work, honey. Have a safe trip back home!" His photographer called out with a wave, a few other workers also waved him goodbye.

"See ya later." Hotaru waved back, a casual grin on his face, hiding the nervousness he felt inside_, In half an hour, I'm gonna...in thirty minutes-no a thousand eight hundred seconds...aargh, that did not make me feel better, maybe I should stop thinking...yeah that seems like a good idea...I'm gonna stop thinking-wait that isn't humanly possible while I'm still conscious_! He paused in his tracks and ran a hand through his hair, the action helped him clear his mind a little. _Well,_ he said silently,_ whatever happens, happens._

He came to his destination a good ten minutes earlier, he scanned the large food court until his eyes fell on a white-haired man, who was sitting at one of the corner tables, sipping a cup of of tea.

Hotaru took in a deep breath and made his way over. _Well...here goes nothing..._

* * *

**I'm sorry for the late update (and this super boring chapter)! It's just that I have my exams and...argh! Those evil things are just so...so life sucking *sob* *sob*...**


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